The Wiz (Universal Pictures film)
The Wiz is a 1978 American musical adventure film produced in collaboration between Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October 24, 1978. An urban reimagining of L. Frank Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, The Wiz was loosely adapted from the 1975 Broadway musical of the same name. The film follows the adventures of Dorothy Gale, a shy twenty-four-year-old Harlem, New York, schoolteacher who finds herself magically transported to the land of Oz, which resembles an alternative fantasy version of the Big Apple. Befriended by a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion, she travels through the city to seek an audience with the mysterious wiz, who they say is the only one powerful enough to send her home. Produced by Rob Cohen and directed by Sidney Lumet, The Wiz stars Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor. The film's story was reworked from William F. Brown's Broadway libretto by Joel Schumacher, and Quincy Jones supervised the adaptation of Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross's songs for film. A handful of new songs, written by Jones and the songwriting team of Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, were added for the film version. Upon its original theatrical release, The Wiz was a critical and commercial failure, and marked the end of the resurgence of African-American films that began with the blaxploitation movement of the early 1970s. Despite its initial failure, the film version of The Wiz would go on to become a cult classic, particularly among African-American audiences, Oz enthusiasts, and fans of Michael Jackson. About it The film starts out on a snowy evening in Harlem. A crowded Thanksgiving dinner brings a host of family together in a small apartment, where a very shy and humble, twenty-four-year-old schoolteacher named Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Extremely introverted, Dorothy is teased by Aunt Em for never having been south of 125th Street, as she has delayed moving out to start her own independent life as an adult. Despite having many family members, Dorothy has no friends, boyfriend, or children, so Aunt Em has a talk with Dorothy about getting a new job, finding a new place, and meeting new people. While Dorothy cleans up after the meal, her dog Toto runs out the open kitchen door into a violent snowstorm. She succeeds in retrieving him, but finds herself trapped in the storm. A magical whirlwind made of snow – the work of Glinda the good witch of the south – materializes and transports them to the realm of Oz. Released by the snowstorm, Dorothy smashes through an electric "Oz" sky sign as she descends from the atmosphere, and which falls upon and kills Evermean the wicked witch of the east who rules Munchkinland. As a result, Dorothy frees the munchkins who populate the playground into which she lands; they had been transformed by Evermean into graffiti for "tagging" the park walls. Dorothy soon meets the munchkins' main benefactress, Miss One the good witch of the north, a magical "numbers runner" who gives Evermean's pretty charmed silver slippers to her by teleporting them on Dorothy's feet. However, Dorothy declares she doesn't want the shoes and desperately just wants to get home to Aunt Em. Miss One urges her to follow the yellow brick road to the capital emerald city and seek the help of the mysterious wizard who she believes holds the power to send Dorothy back to Harlem. After telling her to never take the silver shoes off, the good witch and the munchkins then disappear and Dorothy is left to search for the road on her own. The next morning, Dorothy happens upon a scarecrow made of garbage and rags, and saves him from being viciously teased and picked on by a group of humanoid crows and whom she befriends. The two of them discover the yellow brick road and happily begin to follow it together. The scarecrow hopes the wizard might be able to give him the one thing he feels that he lacks – a brain. Along the way to the emerald city, Dorothy, Toto, and the scarecrow meet the tin man in an abandoned turn-of-the-century amusement park and the cowardly lion, a vain dandy banished from the jungle, who hid inside one of the stone lions in front of the New York public library. The tin man and lion join them on their quest to find the wizard, hoping to gain a heart and courage, respectively. Before the five adventurers reach the emerald city, they must face obstacles such as a deadly subway where they meet a crazy subway peddler who has been secretly spying on Dorothy on her journey the entire time, as he unleashes evil puppets in his control. They narrowly escape the subway and then encounter the poppy girls, who attempt to put Dorothy, Toto, and the lion into an eternal sleep with magic poppy perfume. Finally reaching the emerald city, an analogue of the real-life World Trade Center plaza, the quintet gains passage into the city because of Dorothy's ownership of the silver slippers; they marvel at the spectacle of the city and its sophisticated, fashion forward dancers. They are granted an audience with the wiz who lives at the very top of the towers. He appears to them as a giant fire-breathing metallic head. He will only grant their wishes if they kill the sister of the wicked witch of the east, Evillene the wicked witch of the west, who owns a factory in the underground sewers of Oz. Before they can reach her domain, Evillene learns of their quest to kill her and sends out the flying monkeys to kidnap them. After a long chase, the flying monkeys succeed in capturing their targets and bring them back to Evillene. Vengeful for Dorothy having killed her sister, she dismembers the scarecrow, flattens the tin man, and tortures the lion in hopes of making Dorothy give her the silver shoes. When she threatens to throw Toto into a fiery cauldron, Dorothy nearly gives in until the scarecrow hints to her to activate a fire sprinkler switch, which she does. The sprinklers put out the fire but also melt Evillene. She is flushed down into her throne, the lid of which slams shut like a toilet. With Evillene finally gone, her spells lose their power: the winkies are freed from their costumes and their factory tools disappear. They rejoice in dance and praise Dorothy as their emancipator. The flying monkeys give her and her friends a triumphant ride back to the emerald city. Upon arriving, the quartet takes a back door into the wizard's quarters and discovers that he is a phony. The "great and powerful Oz" is actually Herman Smith, a failed politician from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who was transported to Oz when a balloon he was flying to promote his campaign to become the city dogcatcher was lost in a storm. The scarecrow, tin man, and lion are distraught that they will never receive their respective brain, heart, and courage, but Dorothy makes them realize that they already have had these things all along. Just as it seems as if Dorothy will never be able to get home, Glinda the good witch of the south appears and implores her to find her way home by searching within and using the magic of the silver slippers by clicking the heels together three times. After thanking Glinda and bidding a tearful goodbye to her companions as their faces fade into the darkness, she takes Toto in her arms, thinks of home and the things she loves most about it. When Dorothy clicks her heels, she immediately finds herself back in her neighborhood of Harlem and is finally home again. Now a changed woman, Dorothy carries Toto back to their own apartment and closes the door; since she now has moved forward with her life. Cast of characters Diana Ross as Dorothy Gale Michael Jackson as the scarecrow Lena Horne as Glinda the good witch of the south Ted Ross as the cowardly lion Nipsey Russell as the tin man Thelma Carpenter as Miss One the good witch of the north Theresa Merritt as Aunt Em Stanley Greene as Uncle Henry Richard Pryor as the wiz/Herman Smith Mabel King as Evilene the wicked witch of the west Trivia Jimmie Walker was director Sidney Lumet’s first choice to play the scarecrow. But producer Rob Cohen wanted a singer for the role and convinced Lumet to cast Michael Jackson. Ben Vereen was supposed to play the tin man and was replaced at the last minute by Nipsey Russell. Vereen did, however, get to play the role of the wizard in the Broadway musical Wicked in 2005. Michael Jackson won an NAACP Image Award for best actor in The Wiz. The film won the award for best picture. Mabel King and Ted Ross were cast as Evilene the wicked witch of the west and the cowardly lion again in the film version after playing those roles in the debut cast on Broadway, and they were the only two stars to reprise their Broadway roles in the film. She was uncredited in the film, but Robin Givens was a guest at Aunt Em’s party. It was her first on-screen role. During production, Sidney Lumet felt that the finished film would be "an absolutely unique experience that nobody has ever witnessed before." When asked about any possible influence from MGM's popular 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz, Lumet stated that "there was nothing to be gained from the 1939 film other than to make certain we didn't use anything from it. They made a brilliant movie, and even though our concept is different — they're Kansas, we're New York; they're white, we're black, and the score and the books are totally different — we wanted to make sure that we never overlapped in any area." Ray Bolger, who played the scarecrow in the 1939 The Wizard Of Oz film, did not think highly of nor was not taken with the film version of The Wiz, stating "The Wiz is overblown and will never have the universal appeal that the classic MGM musical has obtained." The film was set to get a special DC Comics magazine featuring a comic book adaptation and a spin-off album titled Diana Ross Sings Songs From The Wiz, however, both went unreleased. The original Broadway incarnation of The Wiz was an awe-inspiring production with a pop/rock score, glorious fun, and contemporary tone of humor, but the failure of the film version was attempting to be the grooviest movie musical ever by having it's tone being so dark. However, the film was stripped of the stage show's original fun, and that dimmed any prospects of longevity for the property. Coming in at a whopping $24 million, it was the most expensive musical to be produced at the time. The film only brought in $13 million.Category:Movies Category:The Wizard Of Oz